Salt-brine evaporator.



N0.730,210. PATENTE JU E 2,1903.

H'J'HOLMES. SALT BRINBEVAPORATOR.

APPLIOATIOII'IILED PE 24, 1902.

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APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, 1902.

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No. 730,210.. PATENTED JUNE 2, 1903.

H. HOLMES.

SALT BRINB BVAPORATOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24. 1902.

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PATENTED JUNE 2, 1903.

H. HOLMES. v SALT BRINB' EVAPORATOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24. 1902.

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' act description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled inthe art to which it UNITED STATES Patented Jun'e 2, 1903.

P TENT OFFICE.

HORACE HOLMES, OF STERLING, KANSAS."

SALT-BRIN EVAPO RATO R.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 730,210, dated June 22,1903.

' Application filed February 24, 1:902. serial No. 95,207. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1,-HORACE HOLMES, a citi zen of the United States,residing at Sterling,

vented a certain newand useful Improvement in Salt-Brine Evaporators;and I declare the following to be a full, clear, and expertains to makeand use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to evaporators, especially evaporators of thatclass which is used to reduce brine and produce salt therefrom; and ithas for its objectimprovements which relate to the construction of thepans and the means of applying heat to the brine contained in the pans,so as to utilize the heat to the greatest extent.

In employing the invention the hot gases rising from combustionare usedcontinuously and repeatedly until almost entirely cool, and

all the heat utilized in the production of va-.

por, and even the vapor itself, is employed and the heat contained in itutilized for 'the.

further evaporation of brine;

The mechanism employed to carry out the invention is shown and describedin the following specification and in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view with some of the cover partsbroken away.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section ofthe pan 0;

of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the pan 0 ofFig. 1; Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section of the pan A of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of theraking mech- Fig. 6 is a plan view ofthe rakingmechanism used Fig. -7 is a side anism used in pans A and B ofFig. 1.

in pans A and B of Fig. 1. elevation of the roller-rake used in pan 0.Fig. 8 is a plan view of the roller-rake mechanism used in pan 0. Fig. 9isa perspective of the economizer. Fig. 10 is a detail perspectiveshowing the construction of the economizer. Fig. 11 is a section in theplane indicated by the line 11 11, Fig. 9. Fig. 12 is a section in theplane indicated by the line 12 12, Fig. 9. Fig. 13 is a horizontalsection -on theline'13 13, Fig. 4..

The apparatus may be described in general terms as consisting of threecovered evapo= rating-pans in brickwork setting, with a fur nace fordirect heating, with centrifugal fans.

for creating necessary furnace-draft and for drawing off from the secondand third pans in the series the vapors therefrom and for supplying tothe surfaces of the liquid in the second and third pans a flow of airthat is necessary for low-temperature evaporation. There is combinedwith the pans and these means for producing 'air circulation under andover them a mechanical raking apparatus, which is employed to remove thesalt as fast as it is deposited.

Thecomplete evaporator is composed of three parts or pans, each of whichis used in.

a manner peculiar to itself, but which together comprise thecompletemechanism employed to produce the finished product. A plan view of thethree parts is seen in Fig. 1, in which pan A and pan B are employed toevaporate the brine by direct furnace-heat, the fire being under the panA in the arch which supports the pan. The hot gases pass through thebridge-wall into the chamber under the pan B, where they part with aportion of their heat to saidpan, so that in the second pan B theevaporation of brine is'effected by employing the residual heat from thefurnace under the pan A, supplemented by a blast of hot air that. isapplied to the surface of the brine. In this pan the brine may not reachthe boiling-pointg but the residual heat is utilized to produce as highatemperature as is possible." In' the third pan 0 the brine is evaporatedby means of heat that is derived from steam-coils, and these coils taketheir steam from the pan A through a pipe 50, Fig. 1, which extends fromthe pan A to the pan 0 and extends in coils at the top of the latter.They are aided by any residual heat that may have passed the pan B, asthe gases of the combustion'under the pan A are carried under the panOalso; but they are carried through tubes, for reasons to be explained.In the pan 0 the heat from the steam-coils and the residual heat areaided by a hot-air blast applied to the surface.

The pan A is preferably rectangular in shape and fiat-bottomed, exceptfor a central longitudinal trough a, in whichthere is containedalink-belt conveyor b. The pan is set the top of the wall 2.

to heat from the steam under the cover.

35 carries two sets of scrapers.

on a double archthat is, has a wall 1 at each sideand the middle of thepan is supported by a thick or double wall 2, and the trough a along themiddle line of the pan A is sunk in The pan is provided with asteam-tight cover, made, preferably, of sheet metal and made double,with an interposed layer of some non-conducting material that tends toprevent the rapid radiation of The cover is preferably somewhat smallerthan the pan, and its side flanges 3 dip below the surface of the brinein the pan. It is held in position by suspension cables 3",

which run over suitable sheaves and are provided with counterweights tofacilitate the handling of the cover. (The sheave and counterweights arenot shown in the drawings.) It is intended to handle the cover by anysuitable power-driven mechanism,

which it is not thought necessary to show. The salt deposited from thebrine in this pan is removed therefrom by a mechanical rake, a plan viewof which is seen in Fig. 6. The

rake consists of two pairs of horizontal bars 4 and 4", one pair on eachside of the pan, one rod of each pair being located at the top of thepan, where it may be easily connected to any suitable reciprocating partof the machinery, to which are given a reciprocating motion by a pitmanconnection. These bars are supported by the upper one of each pairresting on roller-brackets 4, and across the pan under them extends acarriage which The carriagebody 5 is itself carried on rollers or wheels5 and 5, and it has pivoted to the side bars a triangular frame 6, whichat the outer end is supported on a wheel 6. The wheel 6,

which is itself on hinged legs, can assume a position in which its stemis vertical with respect to the bottom of the pan, in which case thewheel itself bears on the pan-bottom and the bracket 6 is lifted so thatits outeror free 5 end is elevated ,and a scraper-blade 6",which is hungfrom the outer end, is raised off from the pan-bottom and will becarried over the salt on the pan-bottom without disturbing it.

The parts assume this position automatically when the scraper is drawnto travel in the direction of the arrow 7. At the same time the opposedscraper 6 drops to the pan-bottom and carries forward in front of it thesalt on the pan-bottom and drops because the hinged caster-leg 6 yields,the leg bends backward drop. The carriage itself is not connecteddirectly to the draft-rod 4, but is actuated.

by an auxiliary rod 4", that hangs below the draft-rod 4a and below thebrackets 4E and is secured to the draft-rod by the hangers 51.

On the carriage is a tilting draw-bar 8, provided with abalance-roll-carrying rider 8?, the roll or Wheel of which rides on thetop engagement with the lug t! and swinging.

the end that had previously been to the front '(but which is now aboutto be at the rear with respect to the movement of the carriage) upwarduntil it engages the lug 4 The car begins to move and the caster-wheel,which is now at the front and which is now 011 from the bottom of thepan, begins to swing to an upright position, because of the engagementof the heel of the caster-leg with the pan, while the caster-wheel thatis now at the rear begins to swing upward and the heel of the leg whichsupports this caster-wheel comes into engagement withthe pan-bottom; butthe swinging arm drops and the scraper drops. The scrapers 6 and 6 areset at an angle to the long axis of the pan and force the salt from thesides of the pan inward into the trough a, whence it is carried by thetraveling carrier 1) and delivered eventually into a screw conveyer S.

The pan B is like pan A, so far as the construction of the pan itself isconcerned, and it also has the same raking attachment and it has a coversubstantially the same as that to pan A. Pan 0 is differentlyconstructed, and its construction will be best understood by examiningFig. 2. The bottom of this pan is composed of anumber of deep narrowflat-bottom troughs 11, 12, 13, and 14, which debouch into a transversetrough 15. In the transverse trough is a short screw conveyer S and atthe end of the trough a link-belt conveyer E.

The salt from each of the three pans is delivered by the chain conveyerforming a part of the raking mechanism, and each pan has a separateplace of delivery.

The pan 0 is supported by the same side walls 1 continued. Theintermediate wall, however, is omitted, and the chamber underneath thepan is occupied by flues placed crosswise the furnace, the open ends ofwhich flues communicate at one side of the furnace with a passagecommunicating with the chamher under the pan B and at the other side ofthe furnace with a passage, from which the gases are drawn by anexhaust-fan l3" to keep up the draft in the furnace. Opposite the openends of the fines are stoppered openings 20 for the introduction offluecleaners. The bottom of the pan C is divided into troughs to give ita greater heat-absorbing surface, and the fines are employed to furnishthe greatest possible heat-radiating surface to the gases passingthrough them. Another object of using the lines at this point is toovercome the difficulties incident to the destructive action orcorrosive action of the cooling gases or burned bituminous coal. Whenthese gases fall to a temperature such that the moisture contained inthem condenses, they are seriously destructive 'and co'rrosiveto iron,and by receiving the gases into thechamber23 before they have reachedthis low temperature, them through the less expensive and more easilyrenewable fines, theirlast heat element can be extracted without injuryto the pan.

- The flues which may be injured can be easily and cheaply renewed.

In pan C there arein the pan coils of steampipes 24, to which steam issupplied from the surface of pan A through a pipe 50. The

terminal of the steam-coil 24 extends into a vacuum-pump-25, which tendsto produce a constant outflowfrom the pan A and pre-' vents any pressurethereon.

In the pan 0 there is a gathering. apparatus for salt in each of thetroughs 11, '12, 13, and 14. This gathering apparatus has arollerscraperthat is, 'thescraper consists of bladesextending betweendisk-like terminals which serve as rollers, as seen in Fig. 7. v

The axis of thescraper is mounted on the reciprocating bar 27, and adog'28engages with the upper sides of 'one'of theqscrape'rs 29 andprevents the scraper from rolling when the bar is drawn in thedirectionof the arrow 30, but allows it to rollback without scrapingon the returnmovement.

The vapor is drawn'from the pans B and O by a centrifugal fan F throughthe pipes F F? F and is discharged through a heater H, which. I- call aneconomizer. 'In this the air passing to the pans is heated. Thiseconomizer consists of a number of sheets of metal, preferably ofgalvanized iron, which are arranged to form a series ofrectangularcham.

bers orcells, which are spaced by plates, and each of the cells is openat the two opposite ends. right angles to the first, and the open endsof this cell lie immediately above the closed side of the cell below andintermediately be-' low the closed side of the cell above. The severalcells so arranged form acubicalstack, any side of which shows the openends'of one half the constituent cells alternating with the verticalplates which form the closed sidesof the other half of the cells. 'Whentwo adjacent sides of the stack are provided with suit able separatebreechings and a current of air is passed through the stack by means ofsuitable pipe connections,- each of the sheets of: metal which comprisethe stack divides a volume of hot air from an equal volume of cold toproduce therein evaporation from the sur-' thence conducting Above onecell is a second arranged at said series, an air-chamber containingremovface at a temperature below the boiling-point, means for rapidlyrenewing the air above the surface-of the brine andmeans for impartingthe heat of the air and vapor drivcn'out of said pan to the air beforeit enters the same.

2. In a brine-evaporator, the combination of a plurality of pans'in aseries,a fire-arch under'thefirst of the series to induce thereinevaporation by boiling, means for confining and conveying thefurnace-gases to and under. the other pans of thejseries to'prodnc'etherein evaporation from the surface ata temperature below theboiling-point, means for supplying the air essential to surface evaporation to thecovered sngfaces of brine in the later pans of the series,means for drawing off'from said pans the hot saturated vaporarising'from' the contained brine, and means por to the dry air suppliedto the said later 7 pans of the series. 1 I v 1 7 3. In abrine-evaporatingplant, in combination with pans arranged to contain thebrine tobe evaporated, a'recipr'ocating scraper ar-' rangedto convey thesaltof the sidestoward the middle line of each, pan, and an endlessstantially 'as' described.

5. Inabrine-evaporator,thejcoinbina'tionof a series'ofpans adapted tohold brine, me ns, for preventing the escapeof steam 'and'vapor f.generated in said pans except through means for conveying it to thelastgpan'of the series, f

means-for conveying thestea mgeneratedin' theflfirst'of a series ofpans" to the last pan of; j the-series andtherentilizing it as an auxilf inthe-saidlast pan of'the 'series iary to other means for inducingevaporation; j r

6. In a brine-evaporator,' in'combination with a series'of'pans,afire-arch nnder'the first of-said series, and under the last pan ofable metal fines for the conductionof the furnace-gases, and theincidental heating of l the confined air contained: in said chamber andthe transmission to the liquid in'thepan i of the heat of said air; theincrement'of heat 12 5 thus transmitted from the furnace gasesto theliquid in said pan beingauxiliary tootherj difierently-derived portionsof heat usedto promote evaporation of said liquid.

7; In a brine-evaporator, in combinationv with a series ofsalt-evaporating pans, a cover I arranged to close in each of said pans,a 'fire-. arch under'the first of said; pans, means for. confining thesteam generated in the first of 8 5 'for transferring the heat containedin said va- Y 1 'Icef.

said pans and for utilizing it as an auxiliary source of heat in thelast pan of the series, a means of confining the vapor in the secondsecond pan, and the steam and residual heat of furnace-gases supplied tothe third pan.

In testimony whereof I sign this specificaand third pans of the series,and of utilizing tion in the presence of two witnesses. it to heat theair which is caused to circulate over the surface of the brine in saidsecond and third pans, constituting an evaporative force auxiliary tothe fire-heat supplied to the HORACE HOLMES. Witnesses:

R. A. GRAHAM, W. J. SMALL.

